Indian crocodile, king cobra face extinction threat

The study, published on Friday said, “Overall, this study estimated 30% of freshwater reptiles to be close to extinction.

LONDON: One in five of the world's 10,000 species of reptiles , including many from India are facing extinction.

The Indian crocodile (mugger ), King cobra, the South Andaman krait, four types of turtle — Bengal Roof Turtle, Red-crowned Roofed Turtle, Hawksbill turtle and Jaggedshelled turtle — along with the Sikkimese Bent-toed Gecko have been identified to be in great danger of disappearing for ever.

What's even more worrying is that there is no available information on the conservation status of nearly one in three reptiles in India.

The largest ever analysis of the state of the world's reptiles by the Zoological Society of London in conjunction with the IUCN species survival commission has found that 19% of the world's lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodiles and other reptiles are threatened with extinction.

The study, published on Friday said, "Overall, this study estimated 30% of freshwater reptiles to be close to extinction, which rises to 50% when considering freshwater turtles alone, as they are also affected by national and international trade."

Lead author Monika Bohm said, "Around 15% of the reptiles were threatened in the Indo-malayan realm. In our sample of 1500 species, we had 112 species listed from India, of which 12.2% are threatened with extinction. We found that a large number of reptiles in India have been listed as data deficient (27%). These are species have to be targeted for further research."